Sokratis Kokkalis takes it on the chin in Illinois Department of Revenue probity check on Intralot

We've read through the Illinois Department of Revenue's formal response to Intralot's formal protest to the outcome of the Illinois Lottery private management bid process. And the response, spanning 23 densely-worded pages, certainly makes clear that Sokratis Kokkalis, the chairman of Intralot US's Greece-based parent Intralot SA, was of supreme interest to the folks at the Department of Revenue and at Kroll, the firm hired to do probity checks during the Illinois Lottery private management bid process.

What is almost totally glossed over in the extended portion of the Department's response that deals with Kokkalis and the various criminal indictments against him in years past is the fact that he was, according to the report, acquitted of all those past charges. Which, to us, begs the question: Are the charges really as damning as the Department of Revenue and Kroll would have us believe. In the eyes of the Department of Revenue and Kroll officials, dirt is dirt apparently. And it was enough for them merely to trot out the indictments and suggest Kokkalis and everything he may have touched was therefore tainted.

Intralot, we're told, is preparing a formal response to the Department of Revenue's formal response that should be in the Department's hands by Friday. And the protest goes on. We've heard that the state inspector general may be compelled to take a closer look at a lot of what has happened over the past four months before any contract is signed with the Northstar Lottery Group that Gov. Pat Quinn named the winner of the Lottery management contract on Sept. 15.